Former president George H.W. Bush hospitalized after fall

The nation's 41st president was injured at his Maine vacation home on Wednesday.

David J. Phillip/AP/File

In this March 29, 2015, photo, former President George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara Bush speak before the first half of a college basketball game in Houston.

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July 16, 2015

By Associated Press

Kennebunkport, Maine

Former President George H.W. Bush, at 91 the oldest living former president, was being treated at a hospital early Thursday for a broken bone in his neck suffered in a fall.

Bush, the 41st US president, fell on Wednesday at his summer home in Kennebunkport but was doing OK and was wearing a neck brace, a Bush spokesman said.

Bush was being treated at Portland's Maine Medical Center, where a children's hospital is named for his wife. The medical center confirmed his condition was stable but said it was premature to speculate about when he'll be released. It said he would be there at least overnight.

Bush, who uses a motorized scooter or a wheelchair for mobility, has suffered other recent health setbacks.

He was hospitalized for a week in Houston last December, and spent Christmas 2012 at the same Houston hospital for several health issues.

Bush, a Republican, served two terms as Ronald Reagan's vice president before being elected president in 1988. After one term, highlighted by the success of the 1991 Gulf War in Kuwait, he lost to Democrat Bill Clinton amid voters' concerns about the economy.

Bush, the father of Republican former President George W. Bush, was a naval aviator in World War II and was shot down over the Pacific. He also was a former US ambassador to China and a CIA director.

He has skydived on at least three of his birthdays since leaving the White House. He celebrated his 90th birthday by making a tandem parachute jump near his Kennebunkport home. He celebrated a low-key 91st birthday with his family there.

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During the winter, Bush and his wife, Barbara Bush, live in Houston.

Another Bush son, Republican former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, is running for president in 2016.

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